I have a very generous offer on my sewing table. One of my friends & charity quilt supporters has pledged a roll of batting for my work. This has opened up my thinking! Now I can use the lighter colored fabrics I've been ignoring because I didn't have any batting to use under them. Yea! What a blessing!
Some of my old friends saw the light of day this weekend. Combined with the newly arrived sewing group fabrics I spent the weekend cutting & sewing 9 patch blocks. Down for the count 45 blocks sewn!
For now I am keeping the pattern as : middle square different + 4 corners alike + 4 cross squares alike
Some blocks have low contrast, some blocks have higher contrast. In the total composition I think it will work out fine. Or not. Oh well! 😎😎 Isn't that Llama fabric cute? Those 5" charms were given to me the other day.
Once I get all of a given width sewn together I roll them on a cardboard. Now they are ready for use.
Last night while watching Grantchester (love that show!) on PBS, I dug through my scrap box & found some blocks that will never be sewn. The main piece had this 4½" central square. I pulled it and will use it for the middle of 15 log cabin blocks. I have a small stack of narrow strips I can sew for the logs. I'll concentrate on that today. I need to give my hands a rest from all the cutting this weekend.
Only a quilter will probably understand how victorious I feel getting these miscellaneous scraps under control. It started with my friend's generous offer. I feel like I can walk into my storage space and pull any fabrics I want to sew. One kindness leads to another one. This weekend's work probably represents 5 - 8 twin sized quilts for children.
Here are 2 thoughts percolating in my brain:
1. Buy a Go Cutter! My hands are not going to last much longer with the repetitive motions from 50 years of sewing.
2. I have some stacks of pastel colored solid fabrics. Like all the fabric in my stash, they came from a variety of sources (not all purchased ones!). I don't think pastels will be as useful for charity quilts as other tones might be. I'm thinking about dyeing them. Maybe orange (I love orange!) or deep turquoise or ????
I've had some of these fabrics 20+ years. I know the stack of dusty pinks came from a design source in the late 1980s. Time to move them along, don't you agree? 😎😎
These dusty pinks/oranges would be the 1st I'd dye. They need a new purpose besides hogging shelf space.
I should probably dye the 3 foot locker sized tubs of white and beige fabric I have too. Come to think of it. I have an old school style washer with the center agitator so dyeing should be easy.
Some of my old friends saw the light of day this weekend. Combined with the newly arrived sewing group fabrics I spent the weekend cutting & sewing 9 patch blocks. Down for the count 45 blocks sewn!
For now I am keeping the pattern as : middle square different + 4 corners alike + 4 cross squares alike
Some blocks have low contrast, some blocks have higher contrast. In the total composition I think it will work out fine. Or not. Oh well! 😎😎 Isn't that Llama fabric cute? Those 5" charms were given to me the other day.
I cut a whooping pile of 5" charm blocks paired together for 40 9 patch blocks.
I discovered the other evening that if I spent about 15 minutes, I could sew about 10 blocks. I anticipate these being sewn very shortly.
The little scraps leftover from these blocks turned out to be 5" wide (well, duh!) so I cut an 88" length of fabric to use as a base. By the end of Saturday I had 2 lengths sewn with all those little scraps. Phew! those kind of scraps can get on my nerves after awhile. Now they are ready for a coins quilt.
The leftovers from the charm squares were sewn into lengths of strips. I like to take similar widths and sew them end to end. I keep the top edge straight. These are great for scrappy stripes when I am sewing a quilt top on the longarm. It's very similar to the jelly roll quilt idea.
Once I get all of a given width sewn together I roll them on a cardboard. Now they are ready for use.
I have a few lengths to roll this morning.
Last night while watching Grantchester (love that show!) on PBS, I dug through my scrap box & found some blocks that will never be sewn. The main piece had this 4½" central square. I pulled it and will use it for the middle of 15 log cabin blocks. I have a small stack of narrow strips I can sew for the logs. I'll concentrate on that today. I need to give my hands a rest from all the cutting this weekend.
Only a quilter will probably understand how victorious I feel getting these miscellaneous scraps under control. It started with my friend's generous offer. I feel like I can walk into my storage space and pull any fabrics I want to sew. One kindness leads to another one. This weekend's work probably represents 5 - 8 twin sized quilts for children.
Here are 2 thoughts percolating in my brain:
1. Buy a Go Cutter! My hands are not going to last much longer with the repetitive motions from 50 years of sewing.
2. I have some stacks of pastel colored solid fabrics. Like all the fabric in my stash, they came from a variety of sources (not all purchased ones!). I don't think pastels will be as useful for charity quilts as other tones might be. I'm thinking about dyeing them. Maybe orange (I love orange!) or deep turquoise or ????
I've had some of these fabrics 20+ years. I know the stack of dusty pinks came from a design source in the late 1980s. Time to move them along, don't you agree? 😎😎
That purple is ghastly & it's stiff. It's probably more suited for totebags for grocery shopping rather than quilts.
Whole lotta pink going on there.
I lived a long time with households full of males. I think I just wanted some pink to remind me of my femininity.
I'm quickly tiring of these colors.
These yellows aren't too bad but I would like them to be brighter.
These dusty pinks/oranges would be the 1st I'd dye. They need a new purpose besides hogging shelf space.
I should probably dye the 3 foot locker sized tubs of white and beige fabric I have too. Come to think of it. I have an old school style washer with the center agitator so dyeing should be easy.
Please join the conversation! 💬💬
I love your stories and suggestions.
They often give me the nudge I need to think differently about my humongous stash.
Have a Creative Day, Y'All!
Edit: One of those '80s chintz fabrics volunteered to be the backing fabric for the log cabin blocks. My fabrics are nice like that; they realize not every piece will be the Star! Some fabrics need to be Supporters! 😎😎
Well, why not dye them if it makes them more useful. You go girl!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try to use them as they are first but I'm not going to let their color be a stumbling block. I could certainly use the shelf space!
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a stash of those colors! Dying sounds like the perfect solution. The log cabin blocks will be pretty, too.
ReplyDeleteCulled through them & am passing them along to the church group sewing comfort pillows for local hospitals. Win-win! Some of these ladies have sewn Angel Tree quilt tops for me so I like to repay the favor.
DeleteThen I looked at the remaining pieces. I think a few quilts & they will be gone. I’m going to concentrate on some miscellaneous fabrics this fall to move them out of my stash.
This is the first time in a long time I’ve done any real evaluation of what I have & how to use it. Feeling inspired again!
You’re so wise to be thinking of resting and saving your hands (said the quilter/gardener/typist of decades who struggles with numb hands). And dyeing those fabrics sounds like a great idea, but remember that synthetics (I’m looking at that “ghastly purple” brocade) are resistant to dyeing. But what have you got to lose? Way to tame those scraps! I can hear what whip cracking from here!!
ReplyDeleteI'm not really resting my hands enough. Tonight they are really tired even though I didn't use them today. It's hard to stay ahead of the aches.
ReplyDeleteThe ghastly purple turned out to be a stiff moire when I actually took it off the shelf and looked at it. It's being passed to another sewing group who sews for the hospital (comfort pillows and totebags).